Population Research and Policy Review, Volume 25, Number 4, August 2006 , pp. 393-407(15); DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11113-006-9008-3

Topic(s):

HIV/AIDS Mortality Sexual behavior

Country:

Africa
Cote d’Ivoire

Published:

AUG 2006

Abstract:

Lack of knowledge about differential AIDS mortality seriously hampers the study of the economic impact of AIDS in developing countries. We derive HIV infection risk differentials by age, education, and other microeconomic characteristics using the Ivorian Demographic and Health Survey. Our model is based on econometrically estimated equations using commonly available variables, therefore it can be used whenever such a survey is available but there is no representative information about HIV infection by socioeconomic group. For instance, we found that educated people have a higher risk of HIV infection, because they are more likely to have several sexual partners. However, this effect is partly offset by a higher probability of condom use relative to less educated people. The identification of the socioeconomic characteristics of low and high risk groups seems indispensable to set up adequate AIDS prevention and therapy policies in developing countries.

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